In the fight against Australia's devastating bushfires, a team of researchers is turning to high-tech solutions to stop fires before they spiral out of control.
The Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence at the Australian National University is pioneering the research in Australia, developing an ecosystem of advanced sensors, drones and beyond.
Deputy director Rob Mahony said, "our goal really is to promote the technology that's associated with putting out fires before they become catastrophic".
At the heart of the centre's work is a close collaboration with the latest fire-fighting technologies.
From lightning strike identification to networked smoke detectors, the centre's innovations aim to create an early warning system. Thermal-imaging drones can pinpoint hotspots, while hyperspectral sensors track moisture levels in vegetation.
It's a data-driven approach that researchers hope will revolutionise the way Australia battles its blazes.
Mr Mahony said they have a big focus on finding potential hotspots before they turn into fires and stopping them at the source, moving away from a reactive response to a proactive, prevention-focused mindset.
"A lot of what we're doing here is about early detection," said Mr Mahony.
"You really need to be able to figure out where the likely emissions are, both from knowing what the environment is like and knowing where the lightning strikes," he said.
Mr Mahony said he recognised that traditional methodology is still important, but was hopeful this new technology will fill the gap unprecedented environmental changes are bringing.
"We're starting from scratch in a lot of ways, because none of the old approaches were designed for this level of proactive fire management," he said.
"The paradigm change that we're really working towards is the fact that with anthropological climate change, you just can't treat the environment in the same way anymore," said Mr Mahony.
Andrew Tridgell, director of Aerial Robotics Australia, was involved in a demonstration of the drones that showed how the technology would work if implemented.
During the demonstration, a fire source was created and one of the drones was sent up. He said "it would scan the area looking for thermal sources, if it finds thermal sources, it can relay that positional information back to the fire services and they can choose the appropriate action".
"They can then ask the aircraft to stay on the station if they would like to monitor the spread of the fire, or they can tell it to go to another area, or come home," said Mr Tridgell.
Another key component of this operation would then be to work with fire services once a fire is detected.
Carbonix founder Dario Valenza said this would be done by making the information available to first responders, including "which areas to avoid, where to focus the fight, and even to then directing water carrying aircrafts to actually put out the fires".
Mr Valenza said they have found it difficult to get it from the stages of testing and trialling, to actually being used by fire services, even though it has been successful in other parts of the world.
He said a lot of the reason the process has been slow-moving in Australia is most likely because of a misalignment in the perception of the technology.
"I think that some people may not realise how advanced the technology actually is," said Mr Valenza.
He said while the path to widespread adoption remains challenging, the hope is that innovation, collaboration and persistence will pave the way for smarter, more effective fire fighting strategies.
"A demonstration like this is great because it shows that it's actually doing the thing, it's out flying, so that hopefully helps it get over the line," he said.
These cutting-edge technologies offer a promising glimpse into a future where early detection and proactive fire management could make all the difference.
The work of the Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence is just the beginning of what could be a transformative shift in how we approach one of Australia's most pressing environmental threats.
